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Ohio now has recorded eight deaths attributed to coronavirus. The new deaths on Tuesday were in Cuyahoga and Gallia counties.

Nineteen cases were reported in a small western Ohio county -- Miami -- due to an outbreak apparently involving a nursing home in Troy.

Sixteen cases are recorded in suburban Columbus -- 11 in Delaware County, two each in Licking, Fairfield and Union counties and one each in Madison and Union counties. Delaware’s number increased by four while Fairfield County reported its first cases.

Most Ohioans, or so state officials demand, now have isolated themselves to help isolate the virus.

The stay-at-home order imposed by Gov. Mike DeWine and state health director Dr. Amy Acton kicked in early Tuesday, prompting millions of Ohioans to hunker down at home and their employers locked the doors.

It will be a long haul. The order remains in effect until April 6.

At his Tuesday news conference, DeWine said the state was working hard to find needed personal protection equipment such as gloves, face masks and gowns for first-responders and medical workers.

“We know its coming,” DeWIne said of coronavirus. “Our goal every single day is to prepare for that.”

While saying he shared President Donald Trump’s desire to quickly remove public health orders and recommendations and tend to the souring economy, DeWine distanced himself from his fellow Republican. Trump targeted Easter for the switch over.

Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton, center, Gov. Mike DeWine, right, and Sima Merick Director of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency address guidelines for Ohioans to deal with the coronavirus including not attending indoor events including sports. They spoke at a press conference at the Ohio Statehouse March 10, 2020. The graph with the yellow bar shows the outbreak if the coronavirus is neglected. [Eric Albrecht/Dispatch](Photo: Eric Albrecht, Photo by Eric Albrecht)

“The truth is protecting people and protecting the economy are not mutually exclusive. In fact, one depends on the other. The fact is, we save our economy by first saving lives and we have to do it in that order,” the governor said.

“If our hospitals are overwhelmed, thousands of our fellow Ohioans do not get the care they need ... they die because we don’t have facilities to protect them, that’s a personal tragedy for them, a tragedy for all of us,” said DeWine, who has been praised for his aggressive action against the virus.

Asked about Trump tweets about the virus and the economy, DeWine said a “short-term economic slowdown” was preferable to not acting and allowing the economy to crater in the long-term amid spiraling deaths. DeWine said his actions are based on sound medical advice.

As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to increase, the order closes non-essential businesses and confines Ohioans to only vital trips, such as to the grocery store, the pharmacy and medical appointments.

Enforced social-distancing, state officials say, is the best chance to choke off the spread of the highly contagious respiratory infection and prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with scores of the sick.

Acton said Tuesday it is vital to preserve room in the state’s hospitals for virus patients to come and urged people to comply with the stay-at-home order.

“We know that at some point in a worst-case scenario, if we had done nothing in Ohio,” cases would be spiraling out of control, Acton said.

The battle against coronavirus has come with must-be-met challenges. Acton says the state still lacks enough tests and is scrambling to come up with enough personal protective equipment, such as masks, for medical workers.

Even the state’s biggest hospitals, such as Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, are turning to the public seeking donations of the vital gear.

While considered essential, employees of state government agencies have not been immune from the boss’ stay-at-home directive.

Eighty-six percent (13,900) of the state’s office workers have abandoned Rhodes Tower and other buildings to work at home, said Bill Teets, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.

Nearly 1.7 million children are at home, as well, as schools were ordered closed through April 3 in a life-disrupting move DeWine has said could be extended to the cancellation of the remainder of the academic year.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic is imposing a painful financial price as state and local officials respond to check it spread.

Nearly 140,000 Ohioans filed unemployment claims through Thursday of last week -- a 27-fold increase from the prior week -- as restaurants and other businesses closed under state orders. The number filed since is not being released.

Following directions from the administration of President Donald Trump, the state now will only release unemployment figures once a week, as opposed to daily.